Alien Instinct

by Tracy Lauren

  When our space is as tidy as can be and everything is in its place, I wash some of the outer leaves of the pink cabbage thing and tuck the last of the meat inside of them like a burrito. It’s a little plain, but a great starting point.

  Rennek and I watch the sun dip below the horizon from the rooftop. We admire the wide flat valley behind the ruins. Rennek believes that centuries ago this was the farmland of the people who lived here. He points out the pompaya trees and the tall stalks that hold the clusters of pink cabbage flowers.

  “This could be what is left of their crops, a few fruit bearing plants surrounded by overgrowth that has crept in from the forest,” he tells me thoughtfully.

  The moons and the stars come out and Rennek points out the different constellations he knows--though we are viewing them from a different angle than he is most familiar with and he shows me the directions of different things he has told me about: Mother Planet, Thaad, Javan. He tells me of places he visited while he did his mandatory time with the UPC. They all sound so exotic and beautiful. He promises to take me to some tropical beaches on a planet called Isleria and we lay for a long time on the roof, listening to the sounds of the jungle and staring up at the stars.

  “We should end every day like this,” I say.

  “I cannot imagine anything more perfect,” he tells me, his black eyes intent on my face. It’s impossible not to smile up at him. He kisses my forehead and runs his clawed fingers through my hair. I think one of the things I love most about him is the way he is always touching me, just in the sweetest and simplest of ways. It makes me feel like he finds even the barest of contact with me precious--he makes me feel like I am precious.

  We head back to our room and he does his nightly check in with the others before he readies for bed and he sets a latch on the door.

  “That’s a nice feature,” I notice.

  “It will keep small curious animals from poking around, or give us a moment to ready ourselves if something larger comes knocking. It will not keep a predator out, but it might give us an extra moment to grab the guns or a knife,” he tells me.

  “Ek, let’s hope that never ever happens,” I respond.

  “Indeed,” he agrees.

  ***

  The next morning Rennek hustles off into the forest and returns with two more Elysian chickens ready for the spit. We chat about building a little aviary where we can maybe raise a few of the birds and we wonder what their eggs are like. I’m happy to realize that eating eggs is another thing I have in common with my alien boyfriend. I’m happy anytime I discover something that seems vaguely familiar to me, to be honest.

  He leaves me in charge of cooking the birds and tells me he has some work he needs to concentrate on, before he heads into one of the other nearby rooms. The birds are pretty easy to cook and don’t take too much attention other than a little turning here and there, so I figure this is my opportunity to check out the ruins, do a little exploring and maybe figure out what I can do around this place to help out.

  I don’t bother with checking out the bathing room, because frankly, that place gives me the creeps. I don’t know what could be swimming in that water. So, until we clean it out, no thank you. Instead, I walk around the courtyard and survey everything more closely. The fountains are all running now, but most of them have plants and debris in them. Rennek set up his small filter in the main fountain and the little thing is now working to clear the last of the sediment out of the water for us. I will no longer need to manually filter our drinking or bathing water, though we will need to clean the small filter regularly to keep it functioning.

  I look around and wonder what to do with myself. I feel a little bit at a loss. I could start digging all the junk out of the smaller fountains, but that would probably keep me away from the spit for too long and plus, it would be way easier to do that once we have a shovel or something to scoop with. It seems all the work to be done in the courtyard is gardening related and since I don’t have any tools to help me with that I finally decide to head over to where the fruit trees are. I’ll just gather more food to make sure we’re all stocked up. I grab our empty pack and start walking over. Halfway there, the unthinkable happens.

  I start my mother fucking period.

  I feel the telltale drop of warm to cold wetness between my legs and cringe. Why had I not even thought of this until now, I wonder to myself--cursing that I’m not more prepared.

  My flow is typically light, so I grumble and curse but eventually decide I might as well continue on my errand before I head back to take care of my lady business. I had hoped to poke around for a bit longer today and see if there is anything else edible. If this was in fact once a farming area, there might be other food sources still growing here. Instead I’ll have to go interrupt Rennek in his chores and ask if his super cool back world training ever covered tips on how to make tampons out of leaves and tree bark. I kick the dirt in frustration.

  This is exactly the kind of thing I want to talk about with my new boyfriend. I grimace just thinking about it. I find the pompayas and only grab two, we still have one back in our room. I want to grab a few pink cabbage things, but they are big and unwieldy. I think I can squeeze two in the pack and carry another. Later I’ll try cooking them in the bird drippings and maybe even start experimenting with the seeds, I plan. I decide I’ll go a little further first though, I’m not exactly in a huge hurry to go ask Rennek to help me take care of my period.

  Unfortunately, I encounter a patch of thick trailing vines covered in some mean looking thorns. Just as I’m about to turn back I take a closer look and notice fat brown berries, practically the size of apples--because all the plant life is mega sized here. I tiptoe through and over some of the vines, grabbing as many as I can reach without getting stuck by a thorn. I cross my fingers in the hope that the scanner reads this stuff as edible. Though I see some berries on the vine have been picked at by birds, so I’m already assuming they’re good to go. At least today will have one silver lining, I think to myself.

  The skins of the things are fragile and the more I pile into my bag the more the ones on the bottom get squished. So, I only gather about a dozen or so. I’ll worry about getting more once we determine if they are tasty or not. I start heading back and decide now to instead only grab one cabbage thing to carry in my arms, but when I get to the stalks I notice a horrible odor.

  “Oh, barf,” I cover my nose and mouth. I suddenly remember the dead animal that I had forgotten to tell Rennek about. Nasty old thing is probably rotting in the humid jungle. I look over to where I remembered seeing it and to my horror I see two more largish animal corpses. I stumble back and look anxiously around me. Now obviously this isn’t the spot animals go to lay down and die in the jungle. Nope, something killed these things. My mind reels. There is a predator nearby and I’m all alone out here. I took off without telling Rennek and unlike yesterday I didn’t even bring the charger with me.

  I hear a rustling of leaves nearby and I drop my cabbage and run like I’ve never fucking run before in my life. I haul ass all the way back to the ruins and am calling for Rennek as I charge in the gate. Rennek jumps through one of the corridor windows and runs to me, searching me all over with his hands as I pant like a fool, trying to catch my breath.

  “You are hurt Kate!” He exclaims. “You are bleeding! Where are you injured?” He says inhaling deeply and continuing to search my body. Alarm written all over his face.

  “Wha…?” I pant, “I’m not bleeding... I’m…” Oh. I am bleeding. Then I cringe again and probably turn bright red. Rennek can smell my period. Most. Embarrassing. Thing. Ever. “No, no, no.” I hold my hand up, gesturing for him to wait while I suck in air. He watches me helplessly, shock and worry in his eyes. I can’t help but laugh a little. “Okay, I can breathe. Not hurt. I saw a couple dead animals in the forest and it spooked me,” I explain.

  “But you are bleeding Kate, I can smell it!” He says, his fears unquelled.

  “Unrelated
,” I tell him and because it’s not like I can keep it on the down low--I tell him about my period. “I just… I started my period. It’s that time of the month. I’m not hurt.”

  “Oh.” He says, clearly taken aback. He looks around, as if he wants to offer assistance in some way but has no clue what to offer me. It’s not like there’s a tampon tree growing nearby.

  “My sister began her cycles just before I left for Javan. There are no females on Javan.” His eyes have this helpless look in them that I’ve never seen in Rennek before. He can handle a gun fight on a space station, but tell the guy you started your period and he’s helpless.

  “It’s cool. I can figure something out. I can rip up that shirt that’s already torn, make a couple of pads I can clean and reuse.”

  “I will help with anything you need. Are you in pain? Madreed used to place warming pads on Kahreen. Would you like something like that? I can warm stones, we can wrap them and place them on your stomach. Do you need to lie down?” He breathes out earnestly, stroking my hair.

  “No, dude. It’s just a period. I’m fine, really. Thank you though, I appreciate how sweet you’re being. Let’s definitely see if we can synth some tampons when the others come though. Tee shirt pads aren’t going to cut it for long. Plus, I’m betting the other girls are starting to deal with this little inconvenience too.”

  “Why were you running?” He asks, refocusing now that he isn’t worried about my blood loss.

  “I saw some dead animals and I heard a noise. I figured some kind of predator was nearby,” this sobers Rennek right up. He doesn’t know how to handle a period, but a predator he can do.

  “Come, stay close to me.” He goes to our room and grabs his blaster and hands me a charger. We take a quick break to turn the meat on the spit and make sure the coals are low and cooking evenly. I also take this opportunity to change my pants and stuff a little folded square of shirt between my legs. I have to keep telling Rennek to look away and he laughs at my modesty.

  “Show me where you saw the animals,” he tells me and we head back out of the ruins. As we get close, Rennek stops and smells the air. He motions for me to remain silent and after a moment or two we continue on toward the tall stalks with the pink cabbages on them. I don’t have to point out the obvious to him. The stench becomes palpable. I stay behind him and Rennek inches forward, blaster at the ready. His eyes move from the carrion to our surroundings. When we are right on top of the dead things he kicks at them with one of the big claws on his toes. I can see puncture holes all over the things.

  “Gross,” I say.

  “I saw one like this on our first day here.”

  “So, four in the past few days?”

  He simply grunts in response. His expression is severe and concerned. He studies the ground around the animals, I suppose he is looking for tracks. I look too, but I don’t see any footprints--only scuff marks. He pokes at the animals again and harrumphs.

  “What is it?”

  “It may be nothing.”

  “Well tell me what it is then,” I insist.

  “Coincidence perhaps, but all these creatures are female, as was the one from the other day.”

  Gulp.

  “What would hunt only females? A misogynistic panther?”

  “It may not be the gender of the creatures that attracts, but rather their scent.”

  And Rennek can smell me… so I wonder what that means for our neighborhood predator. We poke around a little longer, but find no other signs so we head back to the ruins.

  “I will have to hunt this creature,” he tells me.

  “If it comes back, yeah. We should avoid it until the others get here though. I’d feel better if you weren’t out hunting alone.“ I say, but he only grunts again in reply.

  As we approach the ruins he stiffens and smells the air. He presses me close against the wall and we peek beyond the gateway entrance. Rennek is silent and still and even though I’m scared, I risk leaning forward to look beyond him. I hear the sound of something heavy scuffing against the dirt and stones. Then I see it. I don’t scream when I do, but I involuntarily suck my breath in hard. Rennek pushes me back and shields me with his big muscled arm.

  I can hardly believe what I saw. In the courtyard of our ruins, with half of its body hanging out one of the corridor windows, is a big--I mean huge, like big as an SUV, fucking spider. I only saw its backside very quickly, but it was dark and hairy with too many long and jointed legs. Rennek covers my mouth and locks eyes with me. I realize that I’m hyperventilating. His gaze centers me and I slow my breathing.

  It’s not that I’ve ever been particularly scared of spiders, it’s more so that this thing is giant and it’s been hanging around our camp for days killing animals the size of goats. By the size of it, I assume it could take down something much larger… something person sized, for example. Rennek takes his hand from my mouth and motions for me to wait. I shake my head vehemently, no. I haven’t had the chance to think this through and I don’t think he has either. I don’t want Rennek to fight this giant thing alone and I don’t want to be left alone while he does. I also don’t think I’d be super helpful in a fight against a giant spider either. Instead I tug at him, hoping he gets my silent hint that we should just leave. We can come back later with the others and shake this thing out with a group. But he shakes his head right back at me and motions for me to wait once more. I hear the spider moving around more in the courtyard and my heart starts pounding hard again. Rennek seems to think I’ve agreed to him going solo in there and so he turns and begins to charge in. I grab for his arm to stop him, but he’s too quick. I watch in horror as he bursts into the courtyard.

  The spider turns and looks upon my man and I see its face for the first time. Maybe all spiders look like this and I’ve just never noticed because on Earth they are tiny, but this thing’s face is freaky as fuck. Like, going to have a starring role in all my nightmares for the rest of my life kind of freaky. It has more beady black eyes than I can count and two long, sharp looking pincers at its mouth. It snaps them when it sees Rennek and Rennek falls into his battle stance. Blaster strapped around his chest, he has dropped down to all fours, his tail whipping and his wings spread wide behind him--giving the appearance that he is even more huge than he is. He bares his fangs and his rumbling growl turns into a roar. The stone walls seem to vibrate with the power of it. The spider takes some anxious steps back and forth. Its breath huffs hard, disrupting the dirt and leaves on the ground. Then, miracle of miracles, it turns and climbs over the far wall and is gone.

  I run in to be by Rennek’s side, but he sprints after the thing and mounts the wall like a massive, agile cat. Rennek stops at the top of the wall though, which is practically the height of a two-story building (color me impressed) and peers over the edge. A moment later he jumps back down to me. He runs his hands through his wild black hair. I notice a thin sheen of sweat glistening on him. His eyes go past me and settle on something in the courtyard. I turn to see what has caught his attention.

  Laying there on the ground are the pants I was wearing earlier when I started my period. The spider had dragged them from our room. Rennek hops up and in through one of the corridor windows to looks inside our room. I race up to look as well. One thing stands out clearly to me: the two Elysian chickens sit untouched, but my period pants got dragged out into the courtyard.

  Rennek looks at me, but he doesn’t need to speak. Thank goodness, because this is actually kind of equally embarrassing as it is scary. Obviously, Rennek isn’t the only one who can smell my period and unfortunately, it seems like the giant spider is interested in that smell. Lovely.

  Chapter 47

  Rennek

  “I must go after it,” I tell my anxious mate.

  “No! Let’s just call the others and let them know what’s up and start heading in their direction.”

  Fleeing will not work. I bite my words though, because I do not want to frighten my Kate. This thing will follow us,
this thing has been following us. I first noticed its scent before we arrived at the ruins, I mistook it for the primates. I imagine that has been following her scent, likely because of her female cycle. If we were to leave, as she demands, Kate would not be fast enough to outrun the beast and I cannot go days on end without sleep attempting to guard her.

  The only logical course of action is that I must go after it and kill it. This is no problem though; a blaster will make short work of it. The only problem is that Kate worries over me. She has never hunted or been in a survival situation like this before. I, on the other hand, have and I know I am capable of taking this beast down. I do not worry over my ability to succeed in battle against it. I have fought and killed things this size before. This monster will be no different.

  I attempt to keep the mood light, so she does not worry, but in truth--I worry too. Not about fighting the beast and winning, but about all the opportunities it had to hurt my Kate before I became aware of its presence. I insist to my Kate that she eats and puts the other bird over the spit. She nibbles a bit, but worry still consumes her. I sigh heavily.